Barack Obama spent part of the day of the Osama bin Laden raid playing cards
and told his staff: "I can't watch this entire thing," according
to a former aide.

Reggie Love, the president's "body man" or personal assistant, said Mr Obama played around 15 games of Spades as he waited for the US Navy Seals to descend on the terror leader's compound.

While many of his top security officials were hunkered in the White House's Situation Room monitoring events in Pakistan, Mr Obama waited in a private dining room, according to Mr Love.

"Most people were like down in the Situation Room and [Mr Obama] was like, ‘I’m not going to be down there, I can’t watch this entire thing,’" Mr Love told an audience at UCLA. "We must have played 15 games of spades."

At the card table with the President were Mr Love; Pete Souza, the White House photographer; and Marvin Nicholson, another personal aide.

Mr Obama did eventually go down to the Situation Room, where he was famously pictured cramped alongside Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton as they watch the attack unfold.